Page 81 of Corrupt Me

“I can’t move. I think my insides underwent a metamorphosis and are jelly now.”

The biggest grin stretches the corners of my mouth. “Stroke my ego, angel. I love to hear how fucking you can do that.”

“Stars. Did I mention stars? Like I saw a bunch of them. Or were they galaxies?”

She’s so damn pure, that I want to shield her away from the horrors of life. She’s too good for this world, for this life—for me.

Like my chest is her place, she rests her arm on it. Propping her chin, she watches me intently as she flattens a line between my brows.

“I am too fucked up for you. Too dark and jaded while you’re a beam of light. My darkness craves to feed off you. I will consume you because I’ve corrupted you already.” A deep sigh rolls out of me, wishing it would be different.

“Hunter, it’s my choice. I let you corrupt me, and I am here because I want that too.”

That’s the perfect summary. She’s not only willing, but eager for all I can offer her.

“What are you afraid of?”

“I’m not fucking afraid of anything,” I say too quickly and harshly—entirely defensive.

She sighs. “It’s okay to be afraid of something.”

“What are you afraid of?”

She pins me with a look that says she’s onto me, changing the subject.

“Of never getting to know what love feels like, of perpetuating a loveless marriage, afraid to be a bad mother because I didn’t have a good role model.”

“So, you want those things?” I gulp, the words scraping at my dry throat.

“Of course, I want all of it at some point—to have what I never had, but it won’t happen…” She shrugs. “In case you haven’t noticed, I’m just not lovable enough.”

That sadness clinging to her reply makes me want to destroy this world and build one from scratch where she only knows love.

I wish I could be the man for her, fulfilling all her dreams and giving her the family she never had. But I’d be damned if she won’t have that. I’ll make sure of it, even if it won’t be with me.

“And you’re afraid to commit, Hunter. Because you lost your mom, and then something happened to you to make you lose trust.”

She reads me as if she is the one who wrote the pages of my life.

“So sure, Bailey?” I say through a clenched jaw.

“No, but you’re not cruel. It’s not in your nature. You’re protective, and a big softie is underneath that hard exterior. I wish you could trust me enough to know I would never hurt you.”

“Those are big words. We’re just fucking.”

“Yeah, just fucking,” she says, dejection dripping from her tone and pouring acid on me.

Hunter is my impossible dream.

My all-encompassing wish.

What I want the most in life and won’t get. But I am used to desiring unreachable things. I am not pitying myself—it’s a fact. Every rejection shaped my walls and made them harder, but the essence remained the same—too soft, easily breakable, a romantic fool.

I am afraid he’s going to be the exception. The one thing I crave until my last breath and beyond. It’s not a simple infatuation. He’s home—his body, his scent, his heartbeats. The feel of him is so familiar; it’s as if our souls have been intertwined for eternity, paving a connection that transcends time and space.

I never believed in destiny. I should start believing in it and hope there is a higher plan for me. At least then, I won’t give in to dejection.

I can have him for a bit.Don’t be greedy.

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